Movies - Review

A Dark Truth

How far will a corporate house go to earn profits, trampling lives and trying to own natural resources, do you think? All the way. That’s what this movie is about. A company which owns water resources in Ecuador, ties up with the military regime, to prevent an activist, played by Whittaker, from rising against this tyrannical control. Andy Garcia, ex-CIA agent is sent there to get Whittaker and his family to US to tell his story. The whistle blower here is the Corporate honcho’s sister.

A well made movie, fast and furious with a positive end and not far from the truth either. When the world seems to be moving towards such corporatisation greed of our natural resources, like water, we will have air branded and sold next and will have to pay up for a puff of oxygen!!

Anna Karenina

Too many things to distract me. The setting was wonderful, as if life was indeed a play and all of us mere players. But this also was its undoing. Aiming to do something novel, director Joe Wright completely forgot about the emotional undercurrents within the characters. There was little build up leading to Anna’s death which I think is the mainstay of the novel. There was too much stress on superficialities. I had certain images of the novel when I read it, and all of them lie cracked after watching this movie. The actors though did their best. But there is only so much you can give on screen.

Yes I do believe, never read a book and then watch its cinematic adaptation.

A trip to Sultan Ghari

 

Entrance to Sultan Ghari

 

A barely visible turn on the road leads me to this rich architectural area in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. This is Sultan Ghani, now in ruins. It is the first tomb to be built as a monument in the Delhi region. Built by the Turkish General, Iltutmish of the Mamluk or the Slave dynasty in 1231 for his eldest son, Nasiruddin Mahmud. Interestingly, Nasiruddin is also worshipped as a peer (Saint) and people offer prayers till today.

From the entrance, Sultan Ghari gives the appearance of a fortress with its entrance doorway, the domed bastions at the corners and the colonnades. As we entered the courtyard and climbed on the top of the entrance wall, the view all around gave an idea of the sprawling town it must once have been. I could see ruins all around. But right below me, in the centre of the courtyard was a raised octagonal structure which was the roof of the tomb of Nasiruddin Mahmud which lay in the crypt below. It is because of this crypt that this place got the name ghari. 

There is an entrance into this crypt from the southern side. It is dark and the stairs are narrow and steep. Our mobile phones helped light up the area. But there are four graves in the tomb. The highest one is assumed to be Nasiruddin’s, while the rest are unaccounted for. Thursdays are important days here when worshippers throng the place to offer prayers to the peer.

The Octagonal raised roof of the tomb (ghari) & marbelled prayer niche on the western wall in the background

Tomb of Ruknuddin Firuz Shah or Muizzuddin Shah, sons of Iltutmish (only one tomb stands)

A Corbelled arch before the true arch came more than 50 years later

Movie Review - The Oscars

Django Unchained: This is an out and out Quentin Tarantino movie and yes I am not a big fan of blood and gore. Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio as well as Christoph Waltz try to outshine each other with their acting skills, but for me the person who takes the cake is Samuel L Jackson, a senior slave at Leonardo’s household, who hates all slaves, especially those who are free like Django. Its a story of love, of fearlessness, a lot of killings and a lot of blood.

Amour: I will never understand why Emmanuelle Riva, the veteran actress, did not bag the best actress Oscar!! She is amazing. Every nuance of a person suffering from stroke was followed by her. I really have no idea how she got her role to this level. She is now on my list of top five actors. Thank you Emmanuelle, for giving us Anne’s heart wrenching situation. It was terrible just watching her lying helpless, trying to communicate with her husband and daughter. The end came as a shock but I cannot blame him.

Dilli ke Pakwan (Delhi Food)

Recently the Department of Delhi Tourism organized the yummy event – Dilli ke Pakwan. I had to visit the place not once but twice to have my fill, and at no time did I find the area lacking people. What I was trying to search was for authentic Dilli ka Khana (Delhi Food). But what I found was food from neighbouring States. There was Rajasthani, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bihari and Tamil food.  Is Delhi food then a conglomeration of all these foods?

Dilli ke Pakwan

I must say I was overjoyed to see Daulat ki Chaat, made from milk after it has beaten beaten for over eight hours!!! It simply melts in the mouth leaving no aftertaste of excessive cream, though why it should be called chaat beats me.  Tilla kulfi (milk ice cream on a stick) was another hit. Once out of the mould, the kulfi is dipped into a pail of rabri (thickened sweetened milk) and handed over. Sinfully delicious!!

But beware, the food is spicy and oily too. So take precautions.

Vast Array of Food

Daulat ki Chaat

Golgappe

Tilla Kulfi

Paan

Movie Review

Zero Dark Thirty – Kathryn Bigelow has done it again! After Hurt Locker, here’s another suspense action thriller. Only this time the audience knew what to expect.  But that does not take anything away from the movie. The search for OBL begins and the docu drama holds you in thrall as if you were part of the proceedings.  Only thing that was suffocating for me were the graphic torture scenes.

Les Miserables – This two and a half hour movie was a treat to watch! It had its moments of highs and lows but what it gave me were also moments of discomfort. The director has cleverly used close ups and extreme close ups to highlight the raw emotions of the characters and as part of the audience, I was not very comfortable getting so close to that. The actors have excelled. After a time I forgot that no dialogues were being spoken. Such is the magic of great musicals. Thanks to director Tom Hooper, lyricist Herbert Kretzmer and composer Schonberg, and of course to Victor Hugo for writing the novel. Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway - I am a bigger fan of yours from now!!

Movie Reviews

Silver Linings Playbook – Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence… What a combination and how they set the screen on fire!! No wonder this movie is such a huge hit. 

Cooper (Pat) is a person with a bipolar disorder.  Returning home one day, he finds his wife, Nikki, in a compromising situation with another man. He goes berserk. He is committed to a mental institution.  His mother believes he is ready to handle real life and gets him out. But the next few days prove tough for the parents and the son. The father, De Niro, himself suffers from obsessive behavior. Pat badly wants to get back with Nikki, that is until he meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), who herself seems unhinged to him. 

Well, that was the story but how the characters bring in the authenticity is the key. Jennifer will surely go places. 

Argo – A movie that refuses to let you sit calmly in your seat. Gripping drama, tight editing and fabulous acting makes it the movie it is and one that you cannot afford to miss! Based on a true story of the escape of six Americans from the American Embassy in Iran in 1980, it is an unlikely coming together of Hollywood and the CIA. Argo is the name of a movie that is not being made, it has a fake script and a fake crew and there are fake documents. All this and the group has to escape out of Iran with the fake assistant producer’s (Ben Affleck) help though all the militia searching for the six escapees. What more would a potboiler want? Ben Affleck and Alan Arkin are amazing!!